This volume documents the years 1946 to 1955, spanning Harold and Martha Sherman’s last year and a half as Forumites and the period leading up to the long-awaited publication of the Urantia Book.
In the summer of 1947, their younger daughter having graduated high school, the Shermans decided to move to their cottage in the Arkansas Ozarks. Finding little inspiration in the Jesus papers and frustrated by the stalemate in their relationship with the Forum leaders, the Shermans made their last appearance at 533 Diversey Parkway in December of 1947.
With Arkansas as his home base, Harold continued a busy career as a writer and traveling lecturer. After gaining entree into the New Thought movement as a speaker and teacher in the early 1950s, he became nationally known, but he continually sought to reach the wider public through film, television and radio. During his respites in Arkansas, he was active in community development projects, campaigning for paved roads, electrification and tourist attractions. But, as the Cold War developed and the threat of atomic war loomed, and as UFO sightings were gaining international attention, Harold was most concerned with trying to help people realize their “higher powers of mind†so as to forestall disaster and steer the world in a better direction.
During these years the Shermans kept in regular contact with a few Forumites, including Elsie Baumgartner, Rachel Gusler, and Sir Hubert Wilkins. Their letters—touching on matters personal, political, philosophical, and spiritual—provide a glimpse into the concerns and perspectives of members of the first generation of serious students of the Urantia papers. In their travels Harold and/or Martha met or renewed their acquaintance with a number of other Forumites and former Forumites, recording their experiences in letters and diary entries. Further, Harold was instrumental in sparking San Diego businessman Webster Stafford’s enthusiasm for the Urantia papers and other purported revelations. Stafford’s documents, reproduced in this volume, represent the first known attempt to appreciate the Urantia papers in the broader context of comparative analysis.
